La Crosse-roads of American bicycling

Source: maps.google.com

Located along a magnificently hilly and scenic stretch of the Mississippi River is the charming city of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Once largely known for being the home of G. Heileman Brewing (and the world’s largest six-pack – see below) and of Trane Corporation, the La Crosse metropolitan area deserves special recognition and this writer’s kudos as one of the most bicycle friendly places in America, when measured by the number of bicycle friendly organizations identified by the League of American Bicyclists on a per capita basis.

Source: worldslargestthings.com

Fourteen organizations, including public, non-profit, and private entities in metropolitan La Crosse have earned bicycle friendly or honorable mention status from the League of American Bicyclists. That is the equivalent to roughly one bicycle friendly organization for every 9,600 people in the community (134,000/14). By comparison, the Twin Cities, which has the most bicycle friendly organizations in the Midwest has a ratio of 1:114,000. San Francisco, CA; Portland, OR; and Washington, DC; Sacramento-Davis, CA; Ann Arbor, MI; and even nearby in-state rival Madison, all well-known bicycling enclaves, do not even come close to La Crosse’s ratio of 1:9,600. Granted this is just one measure of the extent of bike friendliness, but it sure is an impressive figure to tout.

Source: http://www.cityoflacrosse.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1651

One only need to briefly visit La Crosse area websites to see the attention that is being given toward promoting bicycling. Here are some examples:

• Not only is the city’s well-earned Silver Award displayed, but the news and announcements section includes a public meeting on 2012 Bicycle Pedestrian Plan, which heartily welcomes all participants. The meeting will even offer valet bike parking for attendees. We have that service available at most festivals here in Greater Lansing, but I have never seen valet bike parking offered for public forums and meetings. What a great idea!
• The city also has a regularly scheduled “Bike Barn” program where stolen bicycle owners may come and search for their stolen/missing bicycles.
• The city’s transit system, La Crosse MTU has bike racks on their entire bus fleet and lockers available for rent at its Grand River Station.
• The city has adopted a Green Complete Street Ordinance which focuses on those streets that have the highest pedestrian and bicycle accident rates and all areas where corridor improvements are taking place.
• The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has a bicycle rental program available to the general public.
• The La Crosse County Health Department in conjunction with the Driftless Region Bicycle Coalition conducts an annual bicycle count.
• The Driftless Region Bicycle Coalitionis very active and successfully
  

  Source: driftlessbicycle.org/

  interrupted Minnesota DOT’s design plans for its segment of a new I-90 bridge over the Mississippi River in order to insure that space is allocated for bicycle/pedestrian lanes linking on the structure linking Minnesota and Wisconsin.

• The area economic development council actively promotes the La Crosse area’s bicycle friendly status, its new sustainability commission, and the Driftless Region Bicycle Coalition. It even has a pagelink dedicated to bicycling La Crosse.
• A bicycle collective/coop has been established in the La Crosse area to help introduce cycling to those who may not be able to afford a bike.

Needless to say, metropolitan La Crosse has a lot going for it when it comes cycling, including a fabulous setting. While it is certain that there is room for improvement, no one can deny the community-wide success that has occurred to date. Congratulations to everyone who has helped the La Crosse area become an important bicycling focal point and best wishes for continued growth and success in the future.

Urban bicycle friendly clusters

As an avid bicycle commuter, it was pleasing to see the rapid growth in communities being designated as “bicycle friendly” by the League of  American Bicyclists. Likewise, it is nice to see numerous college campuses and a growing number of businesses also participating.

Source: thepathbikeshop.com

As a planner and one who enjoys studying statistics and trends, the most intriguing aspects of the growth in participants to me are the clusters that are developing around the country. This is important for several reasons:

• It shows that more people are “getting it” and not just in certain progressive enclaves.
• It shows that coordinated efforts are taking place in a variety urban areas, not just lone islands of bike friendliness.
• It shows healthy participation by the public sector, private sector, and by non-profits.
• It shows that some smaller urban areas that deserve special recognition for the extent of participation in their community, especially La Crosse, WI/MN and Fort Collins, CO.
• It shows that much of metropolitan Washington, DC understands the importance of providing non-motorized infrastructure, even when some members of Congress are totally clueless.
• It shows a number of major metropolitan areas are missing from the cluster list, including New York City, Houston, San Diego, San Antonio, Dallas-Forth Worth, Austin, Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Louisville, SE Florida, Tampa Bay Area, Milwaukee*, Buffalo, St. Louis*, Albuquerque, Rochester, Lexington, Fresno, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and El Paso.

* A number of businesses participate in these metro areas, but do not have participants in at least two categories.

Source: roanokeoutside.com

The following is a list of bicycle friendly clusters that have developed around the United States that have participants in at least two of the bicycle-friendly categories (this particular list only includes platinum, gold, silver, and bronze recipients and does not include honorable mentions):

• (59) Washington, DC/MD/VA/WV - three communities, two universities, and 54 businesses
• (32) San Francisco Bay Area, CA - fifteen communities, one university, and 16 businesses
• (29) Twin Cities, MN – two communities, one university, and 26 businesses
• (27) Portland, OR/WA – four communities, one university, and 22 businesses
• (25) Boston, MA/NH – three communities and 22 businesses
• (18) Denver-Boulder, CO – six communities and 12 businesses
• (18) Pittsburgh, PA – one community, one university, and 16 businesses
• (15) Indianapolis, IN – three communities and 12 businesses
• (15) Kansas City, MO/KS – two communities and 13 businesses
• (15) Madison, WI – two communities, one university, and 12 businesses
• (15) Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA – five communities, one university, and nine businesses
• (14) La Crosse, WI/MN – one community and 13 businesses
• (13) Boise, ID – one community, one university, and 11 businesses
• (11) Chicago, IL/IN/WI – three communities and eight businesses
• (11) Fort Collins, CO – one community, one university, and nine businesses
• (11) Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA – six communities, three universities, and two businesses
• (10) Greenville-Spartanburg, SC – two communities and eight businesses
• (10) Research Triangle, NC – five communities, two universities, and three businesses
• (10) Philadelphia, PA/NJ/DE - two communities and eight businesses
• (9) Sacramento, CA – four communities, one university, and four businesses
• (9) Salt Lake City-Provo-Ogden, UT – two communities and seven businesses
• (8) Anchorage, AK – one community and seven businesses
• (8) Mesa-Scottsdale-Tempe, AZ – five communities and three businesses
• (8) Tucson, AZ – one community, one university, and six businesses
• (7) Lincoln, NE – one community and six businesses
• (7) Roanoke, VA – one community and six businesses
• (7) Spokane, WA/ID – three communities and four businesses
• (6) Bloomington, IN – one community, one university, and four businesses
• (6) Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA – two communities and three businesses
• (6) Columbus, OH – one community, one university, and four businesses
• (5) Champaign-Urbana, IL – one community and four businesses
• (5) Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI – one community, one university, and three businesses
• (5) Grand Rapids, MI – one community and four businesses
• (5) South Bend-Elkhart, IN/MI – two communities and three businesses
• (4) Burlington, VT – one community, one university, and two businesses
• (4) Greater Lansing, MI – one community, one university, and two businesses
• (4) Santa Barbara, CA – one community, one university, and two businesses

A vision for creating “share-ports”

As our transportation mode choices expand and the infrastructure is being improved and upgraded for complete streets; bus rapid transit, modern streetcars, or light rail; bicycle commuting; bike and/or car sharing; and walkability, coordinating all these expanded choices into a logical transportation network becomes an issue to consider. Hence, my proposal of creating “share-ports.”

Bike sharing station Source: utk.edu

In a nutshell, a “share-port” would be a multi-modal transportation facility specifically designed, located, and constructed to emphasize active, alternative, and non-motorized transportation options at convenient and easily accessible locations. For too many decades, transportation infrastructure has overempahsized the personal car and righting this wrong is long past due. The “share-port” is meant to provide both visible and tangible evidence that active transportation options are here to stay and to create the applicable infrastructure necessary to support it in a coordinated fashion that clusters all these options at nodal locations.

A “share-port” can be located in the heart of the city, on a college campus, in a major shopping or entertainment district, at a park and ride facility, a major employer, a medical center, or just about anywhere that is convenient and accessible to as many people as possible. Whenever possible and practical, a share-port should include all of the following features:

• A sheltered transit stop
• Bicycle parking racks (preferably sheltered)
• Bicycle storage lockers
• A bicycle sharing station
• A Zipcar style automobile sharing station
• Sheltered and outdoor seating
• Bicycle service station (see example photograph below)
• Dedicated vanpool/carpool loading/unloading space
• Direct communications access to area taxi services
• Wi-fi services
• If the site is large enough, some park and ride facilities with EV charging stations.

Bicycle service station at MSU Bikes

The closest example to a share-port that I have personally seen is a facility at a AATA park and ride in Ann Arbor, Michigan at US 23 and Plymouth Road. At the northwest corner of the park and ride are a sheltered transit stop, bicycle parking racks, and bicycle storage lockers.

Zipcar station on the MSU campus

Using Greater Lansing as an example, share-ports could be situated at a number of locations throughout the city, such as, but not limited to:

• Downtown (south) at the CATA Transportation Center
• Downtown (north) at Lansing Community College
• Downtown (east) at the Stadium District
• Downtown (west) at the Michigan Historical Museum/State Library
• Old Town
• REO Town
• Downtown East Lansing
• Michigan State University (two locations)
• East Lansing AMTRAK station
• Capital Region International Airport
• Sparrow Hospital
• McLaren/Ingham Regional Hospital
• St. Lawrence Hospital
• Eastwood Town Center
• Meridian Mall
• Lansing Mall
• Frandor
• Major area park and ride lots such as I-96 and Okemos Road

Not so sweet of a Danish EP treat

Source: en.wikipedia.org

In 2011, I “raved” about the Raveonette’s new release entitled Raven in the Grave. It was a superior record that captivated the listener. Needless to say, I was excited when the Danish duo announced the release of a new EP in April entitled Into the Night. Guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes so high.

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While Into the Night is not a bad record, to me it comes across as uninspired and rather lackluster. All four songs sound like they contain the same chords, riffs, and vocalizations – they just vary in speed, tempo, and length.

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Source: amazon.com

I will admit I like the first two tracks (“Into the Night” and “Night Comes Out”), but by the third one my reaction was, “been there, done that.” So, with my apologies to all our friends in Denmark, unless you are a die-hard Raveonettes fan, you might as well skip this EP or just purchased individual songs you may like and then wait and hope for a revival of the band’s experimental nature on its next full-length release.

A fridge-toter’s guide to fun and fame in Ireland

Source: amazon.com

I recently read a throughly enjoyable book entitled Round Ireland With a Fridge by British comedian Tony Hawks. What started off as a lark from a beer-infused bet in an English pub, soon became a journey peppered with good will and kindness from complete strangers. Beyond winning 100 pounds from his friend, Mr. Hawks won the hearts and minds of the Irish people too.

One might think trying to hitch-hike the four corners of Ireland (does Ireland even have corners? ) would be adventuresome enough, but toting a small white fridge with you adds a certain drama not otherwise found in such a quest. However, when the Gerry Ryan Show, a nationwide radio show, heard about this bet and updated its listening audience on a daily basis, the news spread like wildfire. On only a few occasions during his multi-week adventure, did Mr. Hawks have to wait very long before someone who had heard his story gave him a ride.

This charming book will bring a smile to your heart as each day brought

Source: comedy.co.uk

genuine acts of kindness to help Mr. Hawks and his cubed traveling companion accomplish each day’s goal. As the trip ensued, they became folk heroes to the Irish people. Each person who provided assistance to Mr. Hawks and friend was asked to autograph the fridge as a keepsake of the journey. The most unusual part of the trip involved taking the fridge surfing. Yes, you read that correctly. Where are the Beach Boys when we need them? Sounds like a “Surfin’ Safari” to me.

Source: americatoireland.com

If you are looking for a captivating story that clearly depicts the positive side of humanity, please give Round Ireland With a Fridge a read. You will not be disappointed!

Restoring hope for the “blind sides” of cities

Sunday evening I was driving through one of the less fortunate parts of Greater Lansing. While doing so I realized that even as urban planners, many of us live in sheltered cocoons during most of our professional careers. Either we are in an office setting or at home in our neighborhoods of trendy urban-lofts or suburban, well-manicured lawns.

Too often, even as professional planners, we wear imaginary blinders when it comes to the less prosperous parts of town. We may pass through these areas now and then, or stay several hours for a community meeting or forum, but rarely do we spend adequate enough time to more fully understand the hardships that many residents are facing.  Even if we are moved to take action, once back in our cocooned and comfortable surroundings the images and stories heard about life on the “blind side” of town gradually fades from our mind’s eye.

Every city has its “blind sides.”

• Those parts of town that the new economy has not discovered (or avoids).
• Places where good paying jobs involving hard work and labor were plentiful for many years, but now seem to have evaporated.
• Places where liquor stores, lottery vendors, pawn shops, and pay-day lenders feed upon the despair while occupying gated, retail fortresses amidst largely empty storefronts.
• Places where well-intentioned plans have been written, only to be shelved to dusty back rooms.
• Places where re-investment is little more than talk and just as cheap.

Here in Greater Lansing these blind places can be found principally the city’s north side and in portions of the southwest part of town.

During my career, I have:

• Attended Planning Commission meetings in a disadvantaged Southeast Michigan suburb where the windows of the meeting room contained bullet holes;
• Catalogued land uses for master plans in areas of utter despair;
• Seen commercial strips and neighborhoods boarded up and blighted by the indignity of economic decline; and
• Met with inner city residents on a variety of planning topics who care just as much as the rest of us about their neighborhoods, their schools, their property values, and their community at large.

Despite all of these experiences, I never fully comprehended the difficulties that so many of our fellow citizens many face until this past year or two. First, I happened to meet a family who is struggling mightily to survive day by day. The family is composed of a young mother raising a household of three daughters.  They face the daily possibility of losing their heat, electricity, or subsidized apartment.  To them, $50 is an instant treasure trove of wealth The fathers of the children rarely, if ever, keep up with their court-required child support payments, which makes budgeting expenses nearly impossible.

Secondly, I met a number of struggling individuals and families when my church covenant group volunteered to help hand out food donations this last winter. The stories recounted during the hours there were both eye-opening and heartbreaking. In a nation as prosperous as the United States, such conditions should be wholly unacceptable.

Lastly, one of my own extended family members has been struggling to make ends meet as an underemployed college graduate living in a fairly expensive housing market. Despite countless resumes mailed and applications filed, their situation remains unchanged. The American economy may be on the upswing, but it has not found their small corner of the world.

Each of these individuals/families are trying to make sense of a socio-economic system that deflates all hope; that refuses to offer second chances; which treats the less fortunate with disdain, contempt, and disrespect; and whose remaining bits of safety net are being dismantled piece-by-piece by malevolent forces right before their eyes.

Each time I think about how our nation mistreats the less fortunate among us, the more indignant it makes me feel. It is not a crime to be poor, but it sure is a moral and ethical crime to abandon them wholesale as is being done so often in this country.

Source: thedailyviz.com

Perhaps, just perhaps, if the political, corporate, judicial, religious, and especially the financial power brokers of this nation were required to live as the family described above must live for one month, they might actually see the individual and collective error of their ways. Each time I hear of a new example of corporate irresponsibility like the news emitting from J.P. Morgan Chase last week, I think that NOW would be the perfect time to impose such a sentence for their brazen actions.

As planners, we cannot solve these problems alone, but we must be strong and persistent advocates for restoring hope in the “blind sides” of our cities and towns.  The one qualification I would add is not to impose some grand vision of what we think would be best. Instead, we must thoughtfully listen, learn, seek input, and fully involve those who live there.  They know their neighborhoods and communities far better than any of us do or likely ever will.

Summary of the “Asian Green City Index”

Singapore – Source: lunchmag.com

A expert panel selected by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of The Economist magazine and Siemens AG ranked 22 major urban centers of Asia  in 2011, by utilizing an eight category green city index. The index categories include:

• Energy and carbon dioxide
• Transport
• Water
• Air quality
• Land use and buildings
• Waste
• Sanitation
• Environmental government

While most of the cities individual ranking(s) varied by category, here’s a look at how they were rated overall by using the Asian Green City Index:

Well above average

Singapore, Singapore

Above average

Hong Kong, China

Osaka, Japan

Seoul, South Korea

Taipei, Taiwan

Tokyo, Japan

Yokohama, Japan

Average

Bangkok, Thailand

Beijing, China

Delhi, India

Guangzhou, China

Jakarta, Indonesia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Nanjing, China

Shanghai, China

Wuhan, China

Below average

Bengaluru (Bangalore), India

Hanoi, Vietnam

Kolkata (Calcutta), India

Manila, Philippines

Mumbai (Bombay), India

Well below average

Karachi, Pakistan

Guangzhou, China – Source: search.com

Kudos to Singapore for doing so well in the report. Some of the key overall findings of the study include the following:

• The wealthier cities tended to perform better on the index, but policy implementation made a big difference.
• “At a certain level, resource consumption does not continue to rise with income.”
• “When resources are limited, attitudes make a difference.”
• “Living conditions in Asian cities varies enormously.”
• “Asian cities produce less waste per capita than Europe and Latin America, but waste collection is less effective.”
• The widest performance gap between the Asian cities was in the sanitation category.

Kolkata, India – Source: destination360.com

As with the previous indexes, the extent of detail and research that went into preparing the study is truly exceptional. Just like the Latin America and African reports, all environmental and urban planners should find this study of burgeoning Asian urban areas to be a very useful and insightful resource. Here is a direct weblink to the Asian report.